Historical Information (Source: CWGC)

The Netherlands fell to the Germans in May 1940 and was not re-entered by Allied forces until September 1944. The great majority of those buried in Holten Canadian War Cemetery died during the last stages of the war in Holland, during the advance of the Canadian 2nd Corps into northern Germany, and across the Ems in April and the first days of May 1945. After the end of hostilities their remains were brought together into this cemetery.

Holten Canadian War Cemetery contains 1,393 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.

Hampden I AT119 – 455 Sqdn – 21 Jan 1942

Took off 1719 21 Jan 1942 from Swinderby. Shot down by a night-fighter and crashed near Emden, Germany, 22 January 1942.

Manchester I L7381 – 207 Sqdn – 13 August 1941

Took off from Waddington. Shot down by a Do215 night-fighter and crashed at Lange Dijk near Kolham, Holland.

Crew

Flying Officer William Michael Ronald SMITH (41216) Pilot RAF

Sergeant James ALLEN (974030) Wireless Operator  RAF

Pilot Officer Edward Arthur REEMAN (44176) Observer RAF

Flight Sergeant Arthur HALFPENNY (549626) Wireless Operator RAF

Flight Sergeant Anthony Robert COTTERELL (741754) Pilot RAF

Sergeant Albert Edward COAKES (629430) Air Gunner RAF

The Brewster couple buried at the Canadian cemetery in Holten

Winifred and Edward met each other in the spring of 1943. Edward was part of the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps, Winifred joined the Canadian Women's Corps in November 1943.  Just before the end of the war in April 1945, Edward was transferred to the European mainland with his unit. There he provided supporting activities in the Netherlands and later in Northern Germany.  Edward John Brewster and Winifred Lilian Wright were married on 26 January 1946 in Edmonton, Middlesex in England.

On April 15, 1946, Edward had to carry out an assignment. He was given permission to take Winifred with him. On the way back, on the evening of the 15th April 1946 things went wrong. Part of the road between Hamburg and Bremen was used as a warehouse for military vehicles. The jeep in which Edward and Winifred sat collided head-on at the front of a number of DUKW amphibious vehicles that were partly on the roadway.  Help came too late, when they arrived with the ambulance in the military hospital in Hamburg, they had already died. 

Barely three months after their marriage, Winifred and Edward were buried on 16 April 1946, one day after their death, at the Canadian Cemetery in Holten in plot 10, row H, graves 7 and 8.

MC – MM – DSO – DFC - DCM